Baldwin follows City colleague on path to the Clarets

BRADFORD CITY director of operations David Baldwin is quitting the League One club to take up a similar role at top-flight Burnley.

The 43-year-old was brought to Valley Parade by Mark Lawn in 2007 shortly after the latter had taken joint ownership with Julian Rhodes.

Since then, Baldwin has played a pivotal role in the club’s day-to-day operations.

His departure next month to join Premier League Burnley will see Bradford receive a five-figure settlement in compensation.

Baldwin follows company accountant Steve Cook, who moved from Bradford to the Clarets earlier this year.

Rhodes said: “It is great for Dave and an indication of what a good job he has done for us since coming to the club in 2007. We would like to thank him for all his efforts.”

Baldwin’s final game at Bradford will be the home game against Doncaster Rovers on November 1. As a good-will gesture, he will work the final month of his notice for free.

Meanwhile, James Hanson is expected to return to the Bantams’ squad for the weekend derby trip to Barnsley.

The striker has sat out the last five games after suffering a thigh injury during the warm-up ahead of City’s league win at Milton Keynes Dons. Manager Phil Parkinson had been considering Hanson for the visit of Crewe Alexandra last Saturday, but decided to play safe for fear of aggravating the injury.

Parkinson said: “We had confidence in our squad that we had the ability to win the game without James.

“He hadn’t really trained properly leading up to the match and we didn’t want to throw him in and risk further injury.

“It was a close call, but we didn’t want to push him out there for the sake of one extra week. We wanted to play him only when he is right.”

Andrew Davies, back in the side after a broken arm, has been confirmed as club captain with Parkinson revealing he will share off-field duties with Stephen Darby, who dons the armband on matchdays.

York City could be without attacking duo Wes Fletcher and Michael Coulson for a fortnight after the pair limped out of the goalless draw at home to Portsmouth.

Coulson, one of five ever-presents at Bootham Crescent in League Two this term, suffered a calf injury and Fletcher a hamstring problem to add to the Minstermen’s woes after taking just one win from 11 games.